Anthony Mackie battles the Earth itself in trailer for Netflix's 'IO'

Netflix’s latest trend looks to figure out the perfect way to wipe out humanity as quickly as possible (without hiking prices).

This past December, Netflix released Birdbox, starring Sandra Bullock, about humanity trying to survive against creatures that, when seen, cause such trauma that it leads to suicide. As grim as that sounds, it was a massive hit for the streaming service. Their latest film, IO, is continuing the trend of “invisible killers.”

This time, it’s the Earth itself that is causing humanity to fight to live. IO follows the journey of Sam (Margaret Qualley), a scientist who is trying to find a way to make the planet livable again after its gases become toxic to humans. Most of the Earth has evacuated to IO, one of Jupiter’s moons.

Sam comes across Micah (Anthony Mackie), the only other survivor on the planet, who tries to convince her to join him on the last transport leaving Earth for IO. Sam must wrestle with the decision to abandon her home planet or stay and fight for a way for it to live again. Check out the trailer below for all the post-apocalyptic goodness.

While Birdbox has supernatural ties, IO looks to the real world for its inspiration. Rather than creatures being the invisible killers, the way humans treated the environment is the cause for the devastation. From the trailer, a viewer can look at this film as either a story of hope or a commentary on what’s going on in the world around us.

IO, directed by Jonathan Helpert, premieres on Netflix January 18.

via Nerdist